Sunday, April 5, 2015

When starting the wedding planning
process, it's important to know that you as a couple are on the same page. This
will allow you to make decisions independently, when necessary, knowing that it
fits the look and feel of the wedding for both of you. It will also help you
avoid arguments with each other during the planning process.

This short questionnaire can be filled out together
as a couple, or print out two copies and fill out separately. You should discuss
the reasons for your choices because it will help you when making decisions
together.

If there is another person who will
be an important decision-maker in the wedding, such as a parent, you may wish
to get them to fill this out too. But I would recommend that you as the couple fill
out the questionnaire first.

Wedding Planning
Questionnaire

1. Rate the
following in order of importance(put a 1 next to the thing that is
most important to you, through a 10 next to the thing that is least important
to you):

4.Even though you may not yet have put
together a budget, or know who is contributing to your wedding,select how much you think your wedding
should cost:(choose
1)

___Less than $5000___$5000-$10000___$10,000-$25,000___$25,000-$45,000___$45,000-$70,000___$70,000-$100,000___more than $100,000

5.I want to get married:(choose 1)

___in the spring___in the summer___in the fall___in the winter___on our anniversary___on an easy to remember date like 1/3/2013___on a holiday (Valentine's Day, New Years,
Etc.)___on my parents' wedding anniversary___on another special date _______________

Once you have both completed the questionnaire, use your answers to
start planning your wedding. You might use the budget number as a target to
discuss with anyone who mightbe helping pay for the
wedding. If you both agree that flowers are more
important to you than music, for example, you might choose to allocate a
greater percentage of your budget to flowers, andsave money on music.

Here’s to a great experience with
planning the wedding of your dreams.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Once you have gotten over the excitement of becoming
engaged, creating a wedding budget is what should be first on your list of
things to do. Too often couples start
planning the wedding and hiring vendors before setting the budget. Budgeting
after you have started spending money can most often lead to regret. You
realize you have spent so much on your venue that now you can only afford half
of the flowers you would like for the reception area.

Although
it is tradition for the bride’s parents to pay for the wedding, this is not
necessarily true for today’s couples.

There are several options:

·Parents may pay for all the wedding expenses.

·Parents may specify an amount they will put
towards the wedding. The couple will pay the difference.

·Parents may decide to pay for certain aspects
of the wedding such as the wedding dress, catering, etc.

The couple will pay
for everything else.

·The couple can set a specific budget and ask
everyone to pay evenly. This is a great option in a divided family. For
example, the mother of the bride, the father of the bride and the couple split
the costs. If the groom’s parents offer to pay a portion of the wedding,
include them in the equation.

·The couple can decide on their budget
together and pay for all the expenses of the wedding.